How Do You Like Your Terminator? Pics?

Im one of the few.mine is stock and is a dd.with 222k .20mpg dynoed 410.the 1st head went at 65k 2nd at 210k.i have org clutch but have done 3 tob .my alt went at 100k and rear at 170k.front brake pads are my beef.i live in country and i go down a 2mile bumpy and rocky road which make pads break .25 is way to much i pd 29 new

A 03 cobra is my dream car,look on ebay,craigslist and svtsnake.com seems you can pick up a worked one for 21k and a stocker for 17k today which is cheap. i seen a 9second one go for 24k. Just take your time and look and you'll find a cheap one

I just bought one Friday. I love it so far. I put 200 miles on it....then put it away in the garage for the rest of winter.

Absolutely love mine and I went from a twin turbo fox body to this car. Just an incredible all-around car. Very tough drivetrain. 800 rwhp is gonna need a turbo kit or Kenne bell/Whipple plus some nitrous though. Thats a pretty big number for pump gas. Make sure the tune is dead on and the stock block ought to give you many miles, although at 800 rwhp you are gambling with your long blocks life.

I love mine! Had it for about 4.5 months now. other than the clunking the rear makes, all is good.

Moved to talk..

just an average 800rwhp dd

I love love love mine. They wrote a book about it. 'Lead Foot, Iron Fist' All respect to Carroll, but these are the real deal. This is american pride and dedication through and through and true SVT. For 25k you cant beat it. I would recommend spending as much on the chassis as the mods to get that 800hp though. Get one for sure! Black!



[/IMG]

Ansolutly love these cars! They hold up great too. With 800 hp though you will need some driveline mods. You will need level 5 axle shafts and the complete bushing package for the IRS. Aslo need the diff cover brace. The easiest way to get a Terminator to that power would be twin turbos and better pistons, thats it.
Yes the 03's are more prone to a ticking from the drivers side head but the 04's get them too. Most 03's had theirs replaced under the recall anyway. The blue paint on the drivers head does not meen its the newer version, that is a myth
Do the head cooling mod and you will be fine.
My car was built more for handling so it has Strut tower brace, shock tower brace, k-memeber brace, IRS brace, FLSFC, derlin bushings, Cobra R Bilstiens, Steeda springs, Steeda battery relocation, offset rack bushings and bump steer kit. Car handles like a dream

I love the 03-04 Cobra's. Wish I had one. Nice Pics!!!

w00t

a used one

this will be my first ever..

laser...IM DRULLING....does the stripes over top also,,cant see them on back

03 Vert

Just bought her last week....



YEA!

Al Guapo said:

As some of you may know, my car got crunched last week

http://forums.stangnet.com/768664-my-turbo-08-got-hit.html

Now that I'm window shopping for a new car, the 03-04 Cobras seem to be the way to go when it comes to bang for the buck. I mean the way these cars make power with so little effort makes me consider purchasing a low mileage one for $25k.

My goal would be around 800 rwhp as a daily driver on pump gas.

-How do you like your Cobra?

-Any problems that I should be aware of?

-I heard of a few recalls for a defective cylinder head, car shutting off when steering wheel is turned all the way etc.

-How much power are you making and what's your combo?

-Trap speed?

-What cornering suspension packages are out there?

-What's your mileage and how is the build qualaity (squeeks, rattles, etc) holding up?

-Converable guys especially, that are making good power, does the chassis feel unstable with that power level?

Please tell me everything about your car. No story too long. And post your pics if you have any. Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

1. Love my cobra. Was my dream car while I was in school and was determine to get one when I graduated. Bought mine with 2800 miles and mods that was a garage queen to 3 years for $28.5K

2. Problems....none with mine and it was bought off the dealership in Nov. '02.

3. Dynoed mine last summer in 95* heat, no ice in the i/c reser(which I put when I make my passes down the track), and in 5000ft air was...506rwhp/508rwtq with only 21* timing. Previous dyno #s were 490rwhp/522rwtq on 23* timing before my Accufab TB. Combo is Steiggy IV Port, 2.8/#4, Accufab TB, Densecharger CAI(POS), some fuel mods.

4. Previous combo trap speed was 119mph in the 1/4 in 5500ft air with best 1/8 @ 94mph.
NEW best 1/8(Only made 2 pass thus far) has bee 98mph. Need to hit the 1/4 though.

5. Cornering packages....I've only gone in a straight line. From my IRS to a built SRA.

6. Current mileage is 18+K miles and I LOVED the IRS when I had it on curves and how the rear would just sink in to grab traction, and the smoothness over minor bumps. But I have a built SRA with drag suspension for the track. I did hate the IRS for it's wheel hop on street tire or DRs. No squeaks, just a BF idler bearing going bad and needs to be replaced.

7. Story...You know some already. Currently.......
Billet Flow idlers
Densecharger CAI
MAC O/R Prochamber
Dynomax Bullets dumped
Diablosport MAF.ia
Diablosport Programmer(just to datalog)
Simen Deka 60lb injectors
Fiore fuel rails
Dual GT pumps
Modified FPDM
Dual -6AN line Y'd to single -8AN line to the rails
Accufab Polish TB/PL
LFP Heat Exchanger
MGW Shifter
RAM HDT 900 series clutch
Liberty 26 spline input shaft
Lightning Performance TOB sleeve
Custom Sniper Tune from Protech Performance
Built Ford 8.8 rear end
Eibach Drag Kit
Lakewood upper control arms
Lakewood traction action lift bars
FMS differential cover
FMS 3.73s
Ford True Trac 31 spline differential
Strange 31 spline axles
Strange 10-way adjustable shocks
Moroso 3" extended wheel studs
GT rotors in rear
Bogarts 15x3.5 fronts 16x10s rear Track only
Hoosier QTP 28x11.50x16s Track only
Nittro 315/35/17s DRs on stock rear
Raptor Shift light
Auto Meter Cobalt gauges
Dynojet Wide Band Commander A/F gauge

PICS below

^^^I think you are the only one I've ever seen with over 500rwhp with a stage IV Steggy... In heat and elevation at that!!

I've had mine for almost 3.5 years now, and I still love driving it, looking at it and listening to it. As it sits mine makes 444rwhp and 499rwtq . The bang for the buck can't be beat, but IMO there is a lot to be desired as far as build quality and fit and finish of parts. For 12 years I was a car audio installer, so I was taking every type of car apart on a daily basis. I figure I will get heat for this but untill the last couple years there really was no comparison between pretty much any import car and the domestics, and I find that the 79 to 04 Mustang was near the bottom of the quality list. As far as the engine/drivetrain I've had no issues with mine, other than the squeeky throw-out bearing on the clutch and all the slop/clunking on the driveshaft/rearend, but found that after driving the car for a couple weeks you really get good at avoiding the noise. When I first bought mine I took it in for warranty work on several things, and the slop was so bad that I thought something was wrong with the car. It only had 6000 miles at the time, and there were several other things that needed to be fixed so I mentioned to them to look at the driveshaft. They said that it was "normal", and after browsing some forums I found out that it was in fact common to all 03-04 Cobras...

Here is a list of what I have had problems and issues/complaints with up to the 40,000 miles that mine has had or currently has...

-Driveline slop...Normal according to Ford...
-Noisy throw-out bearing...Common with T56's with as little as 500 miles, mine didn't start till about 35,000 miles
-Moisture in both taillights at 6000 miles...Fixed under warranty
-Moisture in both foglights...Fixed myself
-Engine stalling when comming to a stop about 5% of the time...Fixed with a new tune
-E-Brake boot gets caught up in the ratchet and gets ripped up...Design flaw
-Headliner doesn't fit right...Has a gap on the passenger side and Ford glued it in so it can't be fixed without replacing the entire headliner...Design flaw and poor build quality
-Paint on sideskirts and side scoops doesn't match the rest of he car...Normal problem found with Silver Mustangs...Go Ford!!!
-Headlight reflectors are not mounted well so the beams bounce badly on rough roads...Design flaw
-Driver seat touches door panel and sqeaks badly on rough roads...Design flaw
-Traction control was worthless...Before I permanently deleted it it would allow me to pitch the car sideways before cutting power, causing me to regain traction while pointed directly at the curb/ditch/sidewalk/opposing lane. It in itself nearly caused at least 5 accidents due to the delay in activating. I found that it wasn't safe compared to the traction control systems on any other vehicle I've owned, and Ford says that it was working properly...Design flaw
-Soft rubber rear IRS bushings...In an attempt to reduce road noise, Ford used soft rubber bushings to mount the entire rear IRS assembly. The main problem with them is massive wheel hop. Better tires help, but urethane bushings and subframe connectors are the best way to minimize, not eliminate the problem...Design flaw
-Poor coolant flow on rear 2 drivers side piston heads. Fords head design allows coolant to pool up and not flow properly through ths area of the head...Design flaw
-Interior panels sqeak and rattle badly on rough roads. This started at only about 8000 miles and has only gotten worse over time...Design flaw
-Side skirts, scoops and rear bumper don't fit very well. There are gaps or areas that the panels don't fit properly and I've had to remove them to modify the mounts to get them to fit better...Design flaw and poor build quality
-Factory in-dash CD changer failed with less than 7000 miles on the car...Fixed under warranty
-Water "gutters" arount the trunk have no drains. This is not a problem if you are parked facing up a hill. Otherwise water and any dirt/pine needles etc will pool up and stay in the "gutters" untill the car is pointing up a hill. My driveway is downhill so there is constatly water and debris caught up in the gutters. Mine has gotten so bad that the paint is starting to lift off in these areas. Almost every 99 to 04 Mustang that I have worked on has this same problem, dirt/missing paint/rust etc covering the entire areas on the sides of the truck....Design flaw
-No type of moisture barriers on the doors. This is more of a complaint, but it is impossible to have the window down even half an inch with the wipers on without having water pour into the window. I cannot drive without having the window down a little bit (bad habit) and with the amount of rain we get up here it's pretty annoying that my inside door handle will fill with water in just a few minutes...

Overall I'm very happy with my Cobra, just a bit dissapointed with some of the little things that have gone wrong or were overlooked during design. Every car has them, but with my experiences with my old job, this particular version of Mustang (79-04) as a few more than most others. I've had a couple other high HP cars over the years, (94 TT Supra, turboed 95 Lexus SC300, fully built and blown 85 GT) and as far as instant tire smoking torque and knowing that you own one of the baddest Mustags ever built you can't go wrong. I am always getting people asking about mine, revving at me at stop lights and wanting to have some "fun" on the freeway. Also, as far as having a 800 hp daily driver that probably isn't going to happen. I have pretty much only heard of 2 Cobras making that kind of power without nitrous, and I would guess that both of them have at least around $40,000 in mods alone to get there. I don't know of any that will do it on pump gas either. Just over 600 is about the most you can get without going turbo and built motor.

Look for a low mile stocker, and I would recommend finding a late run 03 or any 04 as some of the early run 03s were more prone to have the head tick problem, along with the thow out bearing issue, although the problems seem to completely random. Mine was built in May of 03 and is one of the last 500 made for the 03s. I think production for the 03 started in April of 02.

On to the pics...

Supradude26 said:

^^^I think you are the only one I've ever seen with over 500rwhp with a stage IV Steggy... In heat and elevation at that!!

Click to expand...

I would love to dyno it again on a cool day, ice in the intercooler, race gas tune, and timing at around 23-24*.

BTW, your cobra looks sick! Great pics

hotcobra03 said:

laser...IM DRULLING....does the stripes over top also,,cant see them on back

Click to expand...

Thanks alot mang!! I love the hell out of my car and yeas the stripes go all the way. Oddly enough I dont seem to have many rear shots of the car.
Does yours have 230,000 miles on it? Wow, very impressive!

Nice pics here.